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Aligning SAP Scope to Meaningful Business Requirements
Aligning SAP Scope to Meaningful Business Requirements

Aligning SAP Scope to Meaningful Business Requirements

By Bill Wood|April 13th, 2010|

I am always amazed at how many projects miss one of the most important (and relatively simple) scoping requirements. The worst part is that projects don’t just miss it, but they get it completely backward! After doing SAP projects since 1994, I still cannot believe SAP’s customers don’t use the old “Seven Habits” step of starting with the end in mind. What do I mean by that? Start Your SAP Project with Reports and Business Requirements Why do so many projects wait until they are live with some [...]

Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 3 of 3
Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 3 of 3

Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 3 of 3

By Bill Wood|April 5th, 2010|

In the first two parts of this series, we looked at the current innovation paradigm. That paradigm consists mostly of two primary approaches: namely incremental innovation that looks more like continuous improvement, and a free-for-all that is more like chaos. We also looked at a third approach to innovation: leveraging existing marketing infrastructure to produce a future state narrative. That narrative acts as a future state blueprint for product or service development to move toward. Innovat [...]

Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 2 of 3
Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 2 of 3

Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 2 of 3

By Bill Wood|March 29th, 2010|

Previously, we looked at the three primary types of innovation most often practiced today. I discussed two polar opposites, which I call the Stoic approach and the Maelstrom approach. The Stoic is more like continuous improvement, whereas the Maelstrom is more like blue-sky, directionless brainstorming. The third method is somewhere in between and strives for the ideal future state. That third method relies heavily on an innovation narrative. Innovation at the Point of Customer Frustration Prev [...]

Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 1 of 3
Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 1 of 3

Striving for a Customer Focused Approach to Innovation 1 of 3

By Bill Wood|March 26th, 2010|

If your company does any kind of innovation, how would you describe it? Stoic – slow, plodding, methodical, and generally consisting of small incremental improvements (minimalist). Stretch – evaluating current as well as future needs and wants of the customer with some structured framework for achieving a future state (striving). Maelstrom – creative “free-for-all,” sky’s the limit, and a “no holds barred” barrage of brainstorming and chaos (directionless). The Common Appro [...]

IT Outsourcing, Off Shore Support, Cost Cutting and IT Department Changes
IT Outsourcing, Off Shore Support, Cost Cutting and IT Department Changes

IT Outsourcing, Off Shore Support, Cost Cutting and IT Department Changes

By Bill Wood|March 23rd, 2010|

Businesses everywhere are looking to shore up their bottom lines by cutting costs. As a result, cost centers such as IT departments are prime targets for outsourcing and offshore maintenance. The typical business script is that as the IT organization moves into maintenance mode, cost centers with high overhead become a prime target for reducing costs. However, despite how things might appear, cost is not the real driver of IT outsourcing. The real driver of IT outsourcing is function. IT departm [...]

Outsourcing Your SAP Application Support
Outsourcing Your SAP Application Support

Outsourcing Your SAP Application Support

By Bill Wood|March 20th, 2010|

I believe it was Peter Drucker who opined about outsourcing and then wrote a book on the subject. The original premise was that low-level administrative functions that were not a key or core focus of the business (such as mail rooms) could be outsourced. Fast forward several years, and business has learned that virtually all non-value add functions can be outsourced. IT infrastructure was value add as long as something new or better could be developed to provide cost savings, efficienc [...]